The  Federal  Constitution  must  be  preserved," — jackson. 


A  MISCELLANEOUS  ESSAY 

ON  THE 

POLITICAL  PARTIES  OF  THE  COUNTRY, 


THE 


RISE  OF  ABOLITIONISM 


AND  THE 


IMPOUCI  OF  81CM0N. 


BY  R.  R.  BARROW 


NEW   ORLEANS, 

L  MARCHAND,  PRINTER,  U  JEFFERSON  STREET 

1861. 


R.  R.  BARROW 

ON  THE  POLITICAL  PARTIES  OF  THE  COUNTRY. 


However  much  the  American  people  may  be  attached  to  the  perpetuity 
of  this  Union,  it  is  useless  to  disguise  the  fact,  that  the  concord  and  good- 
will which  prevailed  throughout  the  different  States  forty  years  ago  have 
scarcely  the  shadow  of  an  existence  to-day.  I  need  not  refer  further  back 
than  to  the  days  of  Jackson,  when  the  whole  nation  simultaneously  sided 
with  the  President  against  the  nullifiers  of  South  Carolina,  and  vehemently 
denounced  John  C.  Calhoun  and  his  confederates  as  miscreants  and  traitors, 
pronouncing  the  scaffold  too  mild  a  process  of  expiating  their  unpardonable 
crime.  The  feeling  and  views  of  the  people,  North  and  South,  have  under- 
gone a  complete  change ;  and  while  we  may  differ  in  attributing  the  blame 
to  the  source  winch  wrought  this  change,  there  is  no  room  for  quibbling  as 
the  real  existence  of  one  great  cause — aud  one  only — of  all  our  present  em- 
broilments. That  cause  is  Hie  inexcusable  and  unconstitutional  interference  of  the 
Northern  fanatics  with  the  constitutional  rights  and  individual  interest*  of  the 
citizens  of  the  slave  States..  Now,  which  of  the  old  original  parties  first 
dragged  the  subject  of  slavery  into  our  State  and  national  halls  of  legislation, 
and  from  there  to  the  stump  and  pulpit?  To  which  party's  humanity  did 
the  Emancipation  Society  owe  its  birth — the  great  forerunner  and  parent 
of  all  the  fanatical  and  treasonable  isms  with  which  our  country  has  been 
cursed,  and  which  now  threaten  to  revolutionize  and  dismember  the  union 
of  these  States  ?  A  momentary  glance  at  the  origin  and  career  of  the  dif- 
ferent parties,  past  and  present,  will  suffice  to  satisfy  the  most  stoical  of  the 
culpability  of  the  opponents  to  the  Democratic  party. 

The  Democratic  Republican  party  was  founded  by  Thomas  Jefferson, 
James  Madison,  James  Monroe,  and  other  patriots  of  the  Revolution,  during 
the  presidency  of  General  Washington.  Having  witnessed  with  regret  the 
aristocratic  and  intolerant  views  of  the  elder  Adams  and  Alexander  Hamil- 
ton supplant  the  liberal  and  wholesome  principles  which  were  first  inauger- 
ated  into  the  new  Government,  these  sages  rallied  to  their  rescue,  and  de- 
fended them  against  the  combined  assaults  of  the  Tories  and  Federalists — 
the  only  two  parties  then  known  in  this  country — who  accused  the  advo- 
cates of  "  equal  rights  to  all  white  men,''  with  being  allies  of  the  French 
Jacobites,  and  under  the  odious  epithet  of  "  Red  Republicans,"  held  them 
up  to  the  ridicule  and  jeers  of  the  populace.  But  Mr.  Jefferson  and  his 
friends  adopted  a  name  more  in  conform  it}-  with  their  feelings  and  opinions, 
"  Democratic  Republican,"  and  up  to  this  hour  the  followers  of  these  patriots 
bear  this  noble  and  significant  appellation.     The  new  party  took  immediate 


rank  both  among  the  masses  and   the  political  leaders  of  the  time.     At  the 
close  of  President  Washington's  second  term  of  office,  Mr.  Jefferson  became 
the  competitor  of  the  great  Federal  apostle,  John  Adams,  for  the  Presidency, 
but  was  defeated  more  through  the  influence  of  the  Society  of  Cincinnati 
than  by  the  superior  qualifications  of  Mr.  Adams,  or  the  popularity  of  his 
principles.     The  tyrannical   and  anti-Democratic  measures  of  the  Federal 
party  not  only  "  damned  it  to  everlasting  fame,"  but  imparted  new  life  and 
strength  to  the  principles  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  who  was  triumphantly  elected 
President  at  the   next   election,   over  his   formerly   successful  rival.     For 
twenty-four  years  the  Central   Government   remained  under   Democratic 
control,  during  which   period  the  progress  of  the   country,  in  population, 
wealth,  and  commerce  is  without  a  precedent  in  the  history  of  the  world. 
At  the  date  of  the  party's  defeat,  (1824)  it  was  considered  almost  invinsible 
even  by  it  enemies;  and  nothing  but  the  all-grasping  ambition  and  pusilan- 
imous  envy  and  treachery  of  many  of  its  members,  could  have  produced  such  a 
result.     General  Jackson,  Judge  Crawford  and  Henry  Clay,  were  the  Demo- 
cratic candidates  in  1824  for  President ;  and  John  Q.  Adams  was  the  Fed- 
eral candidate.     It  was  evident  that  Jackson  was  the  people's  choice,  but 
having  received  only  a  plurality  of   all  the  electoral  votes  cast,  it  devolved 
upon  the  U.  S.  House  of  Eepresentatives  to  elect  a  President.     Mr.  Clay 
was  then  Speaker,  and  hating  Jackson  with  an  intensity  entirely  unworthy 
of  his  noble  and  liberal  mind,  he  cast  his  vote  and  influence  for  Adams. 
The  fair  name  of  the  great  Clay  is  not  yet  clear  of  censure  for  this  act.     He 
was  no  longer  recognized  as   a  Democrat,  nor   did  he  manifest  any  regret 
through  life  for  the  part  he  took  against  Jackson,  but  rather  gloried  in  it. 
Mr.  Clay  was  no  Federalist,  and  would  not  affiliate  with  that  party  unless 
the  name  and  some  of  its  unpopular  principles  were  discarded.     This  led  to 
a  coalision  between  the  opposing  factions,  which  resulted  in  the  formation 
of  the  Whig  party.     In  this  fusion,  men  of  the  most   antagonistic  views 
joined  hands  and   labored  for  the  same  ends — to  crush   Jackson  and  the 
Democracy.     A   notorious  Abolitionist  and  Federalist,  John  Quincy  Adams, 
headed  the  conspiracy,  arid  was  sustained  by  Henry  Clay,  Daniel  Webster, 
Hugh  L.  White,  John  C.  Calhoun,  George  Poindexter,  &c,  &c,  &c,  all  of 
whom  imbibed  a  similar  hatred  to  every  Jacksonian  or  Democratic.     But 
the  power  of  this  new  fledged  party  was  drawing  to  a  close,  and  its  expon- 
ents strained  every  nerve  to  render  its  measures  acceptable  to  the  people  of 
both  sections  of  the  Confederacy.     In  the  North  the  doctrine  of  slave  eman- 
cipation was  preached  from  the  pulpit  and  stump,  and  societies  for  its  pro- 
mulgation were  established  in  the  towns  and  cities.    To  planters  of  the  South 
they  promised  redress  for  past  grievances,  and  security  in  the  future,  but 
they  had  neither  the  ability  nor  inclination  to  fulfil  either.     The  anger  of 
the  people  was  unbounded  against    those  who  defeated  their  favorite  (Gen. 
Jackson),  and  in    1828  he   was  decisively  elected  President  over  his  first 
opponent.     A  new  state  of  affairs  was  inaugurated  after  the  reigns  of  gov- 
ernment had  passed   from  the  imbecile   and   timerous  sway  of  Adams  and 
Whiggery  to  the  energetic  and  fearless  grasp  of  Jackson  and  his  friends, 
'jhe  evils  and  abuses  of  Federalism,  fomented  and  instilled  into  our  gov- 
ernment by  the  Whigs  under  Adams'  administration,  were   speedily  eradi- 
cated, and  the  pure  and  unvarnished  teachings  of  Jefferson,  &c,  substituted 
in  their  stead.     But  there  was  one  evil  sown  among  tne  people  of  the  North 
that  had  taken  too  deep  root  to  be  removed  even  by  the  active  and  unyield- 
ing energy  of  Jackson.     That  evil  was  the  accursed  influence  of  the  Eman- 
cipation Societies.     Petitions  were  presented  to  Congress  praying  for  the 


curtailment  of  slavery;  and  several  northern  Whig  members  became  so  dis- 
couiteons  in  their  tirades  against  this  institution  that  they  had  to  be  expelled 
before  business  decorum  could  be  restored.  But  the  slavery  question  was 
then  considered  too  unimportant  and  harmless  for  others  than  hypocritsand 
monomaniacs  to  assail.  The  Bank,  Tariff,  and  Internal  Improvements  were 
questions  which  absorbed  the  special  attention  of  Jackson's  administration, 
and  the  onward  and  upward  march  the  whole  country  made  during  his 
occupancy  of  the  Presidential  chair,  convinces  me  that  sectionalism  has  been 
as  injurious  to  our  common  welfare  as  to  our  happiness  and  pea ?e.  Foul- 
mouthed  treason  had  few  sympathisers  then,  as  its  seeds,  sown  by  Feder- 
alism and  Whiggery,  had  not  yet  taken  a  firm  hold  on  the  public  mind ;  but 
time  was  the  only  requisite  to  develop  the  tearful  monster — Abolitionism — 
in  all  its  present  horrible  proportions.  Behold  the  august  and  insolent  front 
it  presents  to-day,  you  old  line  Whigs  who  have  worked  side  by  side  with 
it  to  overthrow  the  Democratic  party,  and  to  overwhelm,  perhaps  dismem- 
ber the  Union,  which  your  Clay,  Webster,  and  Choate  so  earnestly  and  elo- 
quently sought  to  preserve.  For  your  own  future  peace,  I  hope  you  are 
short-memoried,  that  those  upraidings  of  conscience,  which  the  guilty  al- 
ways experience,  may  not  be  your  portion,  in  the  dark  and  turbulent  future. 
Upwards  of  fifty  years  have  elapsed  since  Alexander  Hamilton,  John  Jay, 
Rufus  King  and  other  prominent  Federalists,  organized  the  first  Emancipa- 
tion Society  in  Albany,  N.  Y.,  that  ever  was  established  in  the  United  States. 
To  prove  that  the  influence  of  this  Society  tended  to  Abolitionism,  I  mention 
that  all  the  descendants  of  the  above-mimed  gentlemen  are  Black  Republi- 
cans. Preston  King,  son  of  Rufus  K.,  is  the  political  friend  and  colleague 
of  William  II.  Seward  in  the  U.  S.  Senate ;  the  son  of  John  Jay  is  the  Epis- 
copalian minister  who  recently  endeavored  to  abolitionize  that  highly  honor- 
able and  conservative  denomination,  but  failed ;  the  descendants  of  Hamilton 
though  less  conspicious,  are  as  rabid  in  their  hostility  to  slaveiy  as  those  of 
his  renowned  contemporaries. 

Nothing  of  consequence  in  the  shape  of  sectional  agitation  occurred 
during  the  administration  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  ;  but  the  wires  were  dexter- 
ously laid  by  the  dissatisfied  and  disappointed  politicians  of  the  opposing 
party.  The  Whigs  perceived  that  a  compromise  and  fusion  with  the  Free 
Soilers  would  enable  them  to  triumph  over  the  Democrats  in  the  ensuing 
presidential  election,  which  they  adroitly  effected  by  nominating  Wm.  U. 
Harrison  as  their  candidate.  His  election  created  much  rejoicings  among  the 
Free  Soilers,  as  they  fervently  expected  Mr.  II.  would  enable  them  to  pro- 
pogate  their  treasonable  doctrines.  But  it  was  not  the  will  of  Providence 
that  he  should  live  to  encourage  any  ism  which  conflicted  with  his  oath  of 
office  and  the  Constitution  of  his  country.  He  expired  on  the  4th  of  April, 
1S41,  exactly  one  month  from  the  day  lie  was  iiiaugerated.  His  successor, 
John  Tyler,  though  elected  as  a  whig,  administered  the  government  more 
in  accordance  to  the  spirit  and  principles  of  the  Democratic  party  than  to 
those  of  the  party  which  elevated  him  to  power.  He  vetoed  the  Bank  bill. 
and  to  the  great  discomforture  of  his  former  political  friends,  he  signed  the 
bill  which  admitted  Texas  into  the  Union. 

The  campaign  of  1844  was  one  of  the  most  closely  contested  of  which 
the  history  of  the  country  bears  any  record.  The  Whigs  declared  that  the 
admission  of  Texas  would  be  equivalent  to  a  declaration  of  war  against 
Mexico — that  a  war  with  that  country  would  be  unjust,  and  contrary  to  the 
established  policy  of  the  United  States— that  the  annexation  of  Texas  would 
weaken   the  bonds   of  Union  between  the  North  and  South,  as  it   would 


i- 

give  a  wider  field  to  slave  labor,  which,  in  the  opinion  of  that  party,  the 
General  Government  was  bound  to  curtail  within  its  then  extended  limits, 
The  foresight  of  the  Democratic  party  was  not  less  acute  than  that  of  the 
opposition.  The  country  was  prepared,  aye,  anxious  for  the  war,  despite  the 
horrors  and  calamities  which  the  Whigs  declared  be  would  the  "fruits  of  such 
a  damnable  crusade."  The  Free  Soilers,  who  invariably  acted  with  the 
Whig  party  against  the  Democracy,  at  this  juncture  brought  forward  Mr. 
Gurney  as  their  candidate  for  President.  This  was  a  death  knell  to  the 
aspirations  of  Henry  Clay;  and  the  decline  of  the  Whig  party  bears  date 
from  this  period.  Mr.  Polk  prosecuted  the  war  with  zeal  and  ability,  while 
his  enemies  reviled  him  the  more  as  the  news  of  each  new  victory  reached 
our  shores.  In  Congress  they  voted  against  appropriating  money  to  pur- 
chase clothing  and  food  for  our  soldiers,  hoping  thereby  to  force  us  into  an 
inglorious  peace ;  but  the  Democracy  stood  beside  their  chief,  and  saved  our 
gallant  army  from  starvation,  and  our  country's  honor.  As  a  specimen  of 
Whig-abolition  hostility  to  the  brave  men  who  conquerred  Mexico,  freed 
Texas,  and  acquired  the  vast  and  wealthy  territories  of  California  and  New 
Mexico,  I  quote  the  following  clause  from  a  speech  of  Thomas  Corwin, 
delivered  in  the  U.  S.  Senate  in  the  winter  of  1846-7 :  "  I  hope  that  the 
Mexicans  will  welcome  the  American  soldiers  with  bloody  hands  to  hospit- 
able graves."  In  1850  Mr.  Fillmore  took  this  jtraitor  into  his  cabinet,  and 
now  he  represents  Ohio  in  Congress.  He  is  just  the  man  to  represent 
a  negro-thieving  constituency,  but  honest  men  ought  to  oust  him  from 
among  them.  In  the  celebrated  Gardner  swindle  he  was  criminally  impli- 
cated, and  nothing  but  his  political  standing  saved  him  from  prosecution 
by  the  Federal  Government. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  war,  the  Whig  pulse-feelers  joined  with  the 
common  herd  in  order  to  ascertain  the  current  of  popular  sympathy.  They 
soon  perceived  that  the  hero  of  Buena  Vista  was  the  favorite  of  all  circles. 
The  "old  coon"  dropped  "Harry  of  the  West,"  for  "  Rough  and  Ready." 
The  Democrats  nominated  Lewis  Cass,  and  the  Free  Soilers  the  renegade 
and  wire-worker,  Martin  Van  Buren.  The  Democrats  thought  that  the 
competency  of  Mr.  Cass  would  out-balance  General  Taylor's  popularity,  but 
in  this  they  were  mistaken.  Taylor  was  elected  President  in  1848.  He 
was  totally  ignorant  of  the  affairs  of  government ;  he  nad  never  held  a  civil 
office,  and  for  upwards  of  thirty-five  years  he  did  not  vote.  Written  law 
he  knew  nothing  about,  and  cared  less.  The  arbitrary  and  tyrannical  mili- 
tary code  was  his  study  and  practice,  and  from  it  lie  should  have  never  been 
taken,  to  be  made  a  tool  of  by  political  demagogues.  The  best  that  can  be 
said  of  him  and  his  brief  administration  is,  that  they  done  no  harm.  The 
Democrats  anticipated  a  defeat,  but  the  subterfuges  and  false  colorings  of 
Whigs  plainly  indicated  that  their  party  was  on  its  "last  legs."  The  rene- 
gade Democrats  and  Free  Soilers  that  voted  for  Taylor,  received  all  the 
cast-away  crumbs  of  the  spoils  which  Whigs  would  not  have.  The  hero  of 
several  hard  fought  battles,  found  Washington  a  hotter  place  than  any.  He 
died  before  one-third  of  his  term  had  expired ;  and  Mr.  Fillmore  succeeded 
him  in  office.  His  administration  imparted  new  vitality  and  strength  to 
Abolitionism,  by  taking  its  master-spirits  into  his  Cabinet,  and  giving  them 
the  lion's  share  of  the  most  honorable  and  lucrative  offices. 

The  most  sagacious  and  wisest  of  the  Whig  statesmen  foresaw  the  whirl- 
pool which  threatened  to  submerge  their  party,  and  earnestly  and  eloquent- 
ly they  entreated  their  followers  to  stand  by  the  Constitution  and  see  justice 
fairly  done  to  each  and  every  citizen  of  the  Union,     Had  these  admonitions 


been  respected,  the  overthrow  of  the  Whig  party  might  have  been  post- 
poned fur  a  time,  but  its  doom  was  sealed,  and  tall  it  must,  sooner  or  later. 
The  revolutionary  and  sectional  dogmas  of  Seward,  Corwin,  Lincoln  and 
others,  were  substituted  for  the  orthodox  teachings  of  the  sages  of  the  part)'; 
and  in  1852  instead  of  placing  a  statesman  in  nomination  for  the  Presidency, 
as  Mr.  Clay  advised  when  on  his  death  bed,  they  brought  forward  General 
Scott  as  their  standard  bearer.  Franklin  Pierce  was  the  champion  of  the 
Democracy;  and  the  radical  fanatic,  John  P.  Hale,  was  nominated  by  the 
Free  Soilers.  The  result  af  the  campaign  emphatically  showed  that  the 
people  were  not  to  be  gulled  a  second  time  into  the  support  of  a  military 
chieftain.  The  voice  of  27  sovereign  States  recalled  the  Democracy  to 
power;  and  no  man  since  the  days  of  Jackson  entered  upon  the  arduous 
duties  of  President  with  kinder  wishes  for  his  success  than  did  Frank  Pierce. 
At  the  opening  of  the  33d  Congress,  several  Whigs  threw  aside  the  mask 
and  took  their  position  where  they  properly  belonged — among  the  Aboli- 
tionists. This  was  the  signal  for  the  disbandonment  of  the  Whig  party,  and 
it  soon  afterwards  perished — tli^  victim  of  the  numerous  jarring  elements 
•which  composed  it. 

The  whig  party  being  dead,  buried  and  damned,  the  enemies  of  Democ- 
racy ransacked  their  craniums  for  a  new  name  under  which  to  sail  their 
piratical  craft.  The  pick-pockets  and  black-legs  ot  our  cities  came  to  the 
aid  of  one  wing,  and  hypocritical  preachers,  school  teachers,  and  strong- 
minded  women,  hatched  up  a  name  for  the  other.  Those  under  the  guid- 
ance of  the  pick-pockets,  cyjc,  betook  themselves  to  garrets,  barns,  &c,  and 
formed  secret  political  societies,  with  a  ritual  as  bloody  and  proscriptive  as 
that  af  the  Jesuits.  Oaths  were  administered  to  its  members,  and  grips  and 
pass-words  were  instituted  to  exclude  outsiders.  This  party  was  known  in 
its  day  by  the  name  of  Know  Nothing.  Its  avowed  mission  was  to  dis- 
franchise the  Catholics  and  adopted  citizens,  and  monopolize  all  the  fat 
offices.  In  truth,  its  originators  had  neither  character  nor  position.  They 
used  the  revolver  aud  bowie-knife  to  convince  the  wavering  and  slay  the 
obstinate.  They  resembled  a  band  of  incarnate  fiends,  let  loose  as  a  scourge 
upon  the  earth,  more  than  beings  endowed  with  feeling,  sympathy  and  reason. 
The  second  branch  of  the  opposition  was  dubbed  by  its  founders — the  Re- 
publican party :  but  from  their  mock  sympathy  with  the  slave,  and  their 
dark  and  hell-born  hatred  to  the  slaveholder,  the  Democracy  improved  upon 
their  name  by1  qualifying  it  with  the  word  u  black ;  "  and  now  their  title, 
suggestive  of  their  principles,  reads:  "The  Black  Republican  party." 

In  the  North  these  factions  fused,  and  made  a  clean  sweep  at  every  State, 
Congressional  and  municipal  election,  so  that  at  the  opening  ot  the  34th  Con- 
gress the  Democratic  party  found  itself  in  a  very  decided  minority  in  the 
House  of  Represenatives.  The  passage  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill  the  pre- 
vious Ided  fresh  fuel  to  the  lire,  and  furnished  our  enemies  in  the 
Free  States  with  uncrontrovertable  evidence  that  the  Democratic  party  aimed 
at  the  equalization  of  the  North  and  South.  This  completely  revolutionized 
the  political  feelings  of  every  Northern  State,  and  thousands  who  heretofore 
rejected  the  principles  of  Black  Republicanism  as  treason  now  embraced  them 
with  an  enthusiasm  amounting  to  frenzy.  Fanaticism  raged  with  all  the  fury 
of  a  mania,  and  invectives  of  the  most  bitter  and  personal  nature  were  hurled 
at  the  friends  and  supporters  of  the  bill,  both  from  the  stump  and  pulpit. 
To  counteract  the  benefits  and  privileges  which  its  passage  secured  the  South, 
emigrant  aid  societies  were  established  in  all  New  England  cities  and  towus; 
inonev,  amunition  and  arms  were  gratuitously  furnished  to  all  who  would  go 


to  Kansas  and  resist  Southern  emigration.  Thousands  Hocked  thither  and 
enrolled  themselves  under  the  blood-stained  and  piratical  banners  of  John 
Brown,  Montgomery  and  Jim  Lane.  With  what  fidelity  these  murderers 
and  assassins  fulfilled  their  hell- born  mission  heaven  alone  knows,  but  for 
this  enlightened  age,  the  inumerable  massacrees  perpetrated  by  these  bands  of 
human  butchers  were  horrible  to  comprehend.  It  could  not  be  surpassed  by 
a  St.  Domingo  massacree,  and  undoubtedly  would  be  considered  incredible 
by  the  present  generation  were  we  not,  so  to  speak,  eye-witnesses  to  their 
execution.  It  is  a  lamentable  fact  that  their  aiders  and  abettors  were  princi- 
pally men  who  formerly  ranked  high  as  whigs — who  in  1848  and  1852  stood 
upon  platforms  which  recognized  all  that  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill  guranteed 
to  the  South,  as  just  and  equitable. 

Political  apostacy  may  be  deemed  a  virtue  in  such  Whig- Abolitionists 
as  Seward,  King  and  Smith,  of  N.  Y. ;  Collamer  and  Foote,  of  Vermont ; 
Wilson,  Burlingame  and  Thayer  of  Massachusetts ;  Fessenden,  of  Maine ; 
Wade,  G-iddings  and  Corwin,  of  Ohio ;  Botts,  of  Va. ;  Bell  and  Etheridge, 
ofTenn. ;  Bates,  of  Mo. ;  Wilmot,  of  Pa. ;  and  numerous  others,  when  their 
nefarious  and  treasonable  warfare  against  the  peace  of  their  country  is  taken 
into  consideration. 

The  Know  Nothing  party  North  suffered  a  premature  death  from  affilia- 
ting and  sympathisizing  with  Black  Republicanism;  while  the  remanent 
South,  dubbing  themselves  Americans,  fell  back  upon  the  time-worn  doc- 
trines of  Whiggery  and  Federalism,  and  battled  for  their  supremacy  with  a 
zeal  worthy  of  a  better  cause.  During  the  administration  of  Mr.  Pierce, 
murder,  riot  and  rapine  ruled  the  country,  and  for  the  suppression  of  which 
there  was  no  available  remedy  at  the  command  of  the  executive.  The  Pres- 
idential election  was  approaching,  the  enemies  of  Democracy  resorted  to 
every  means  in  their  power,  however  trivial  and  base,  to  deceive  the  masses 
as  to  the  real  instigators  of  these  disturbances.  The  Know  Nothings  had  the 
cheek  to  hold  our  party  accountable  for  riots  which  had  recently  occurred  in 
the  principal  cities  of  the  Union ;  and  the  Black  Republicans,  with  equal 
sangfroid,  said  that  the  Democrats  were  responsible  for  all  the  blood  shed  in 
the  Kansas  broils.  These  accusations  neither  intimidated  nor  astonished 
the  executive  or  his  friends,  as  they  relied  upon  the  intelligence  of  the  people 
to  exculpate  them  from  such  charges. 

In  the  spring  of  1856  a  union  between  the  Southern  and  Northern  Know- 
Nothings  was  attempted,  but  without  success.  The  convention  assembled 
at  Philadelphia,  and  after  many  ineffectual  attempts  at  a  nomination  for  the 
Presidency,  it  dispersed  never  to  convene  again  as  a  national  party.  In  the 
Southern  delegation  there  were  Catholic  delegates  whom  the  Northern  ritual 
positively  excluded ;  and  again,  their  opinions  upon  the  subject  of  slavery  so 
intensly  conflicted  as  to  render  harmony  utter  impossible.  The  Northern 
wing  joined  the  Black  Republicans  in  the  nomination  of  John  C.  Fremont, 
while  the  Southern  made  one  more  display  of  their  hardihood  in  bringing 
forward  Milliard  Fillmore  as  their  candidate  for  the  Presidency.  The  Dem- 
ocrats nominated  the  present  incumbent  of  the  executive  chair,  James  Buch- 
anan, and  the  opposing  parties  could  trump  up  nothing  too  indecent  and 
malignant  in  the  way  ot  fabrications  and  epithets  with  which  to  assail  his 
private  and  political  character.  But  the  people  had  not  yet  fallen  into  the  vor- 
tex of  fanaticism  so  deep  as  to  be  wholly  blindfold sd  by  such  billingsgate.  Mr. 
Buchanan,  was  triumphantly  elected  by  a  decisive  majority  over  both  his 
competitors.  Nevertheless,  the  vote  received  by  Fremont  showed  that  the 
brotherly  feeling  which  existed  from  the  fonndation  of  the  Federal  Govern- 


ment  up  to  that  time  between  the  North  and  South  was  destroyed  forever, 
and  that  the  unprecedented  increase  of  abolitionism  forewarned  the  South  to 
be  prepared  for  the  worst.  She  saw  that  her  rights  in  the  union  wei\"  threat- 
ened, nay,  assailed  by  a  majority  of  the  people  of  the  North,  and  the  only 
alternative  left  for  her  to  chose  between  oppression  and  disunion,  was  to  unite 
and  resist  to  the  death  the  aggressions  and  usurpations  of  her  unrelenting  en- 
imies.  The  35th  Congress  opened  with  brighter  prospects  for  the  Democratic 
party  and  the  interests  of  the  South,  than  had  been  known  for  many  )#ars 
previous.  The  General  Government  was  completely  under  Democratic  rule, 
and  a  more  propitious  period  for  the  peaceful  adjustment  of  national  affaire 
never  in  the  history  of  the  Government  presented  itself.  The  new  executive 
had  his  hands  full  to  suppress  insurrection  in  Utah;  besides  three  territories 
were  knocking  at  the  doors  of  Congress  for  admission  into  the  Union  as  sov- 
ereign States — Kansas,  Minnesota  &  Oregon.  The  intelligent  reader  is  aware 
that  perfect  harmony  had  to  exist  among  the  friends  of  the  administration, 
if  they  expected  to  succeed  against  the  opposition.  In  the  lower  house  of 
Congress  we  had  barely  a  majority,  and  any  defection  among  the  Democrats 
would  defeat  the  party.  A  1  ill  for  the  admission  of  Kansas,  together  with 
the  Constitution,  which  had  been  recently  ratified  and  adopted  by  a  direct 
vote  of  the  people  of  that  territory,  was  presented  in  the  Senate  by  Mr. 
Green  of  Missouri,  and  to  the  unutterable  astonishment  of  men  of  all  parties, 
it  was  strongly  opposed  by  Senator  Douglas,  who  was  then  Chairman  of  the 
Committee  on  Territories.  It  was  visible  that  his  opposition  arose  from  sel- 
fish instead  of  patriotic  motives,  as  his  term  of  office  was  drawing  to  a  close. 
The  State  which  he  represented  in  the  United  States  Senate  had  undergone 
a  complete  revolution  in  political  sentiment.  He  fought  its  passage  inch  by 
inch  in  the  Senate,  but  with  little  effect,  as  it  passed  that  body,  without  a 
dissenting  voice  from  any  other  Democrat  except  that  of  Stewart  of  Michi- 
gan and  Pugh  of  Ohio.  When  it  reached  the  House,  the  man  of  "small  pro- 
portions" and  'indomnitible  pluck,"  had  his  clan  marshalled,  and  gave  them 
instructions  to  vote  with  the  Black  Republicans  against  the  bill.  They  ac- 
cordingly done  so,  and  the  administration  was  defeated  at  the  onset  by  the 
very  man  upon  whom  it  based  its  chief  reliance,  and  whose  orthodoxy  was 
as  unimpeachable,  up  to  that  hour,  as  that  of  the  President's.  The  news 
of  Douglas'  treachery  fell  like  a  thunder-bolt  upon  the  ears  of  the  unsuspec- 
ting people  of  the  South.  What,  their  favorite  and  champion  false  to  all  his 
former  declarations  and  positions,  impossible  !  The  rumor  was  t  reated  as 
false  and  malicious  by  at  least  nine-tenths  of  the  people;  and  I  confess,  as  his 
warm  friend  for  past  services,  in  staunchly  defending  Democratic  principles 
anu  suppressing  Whiggery,  that  I  was  slow  to  believe  its  correctness  my- 
self. But  facts  are  stubborn  things,  and  in  this  instance  they  were  so  direct 
and  self-sustaining  as  to  force  conviction  down  our  reluctant  throats.  The 
hold  which  this  political  Iscariot  had  upon  the  sympathies  of  the  people  was 
not  yet  entirely  sundered.  His  opposition  to  the  admission  of  Kansas  would 
have  been  overlooked,  had  he  not  enunciated  the  odious  and  baneful  doc- 
trine of  Squatter  Sovereignty,  which  in  reality  is  but  another  name  for  Ab- 
olitionism. Mr.  Douglas  having  thus  fallen  from  the  lofty  position  of  a  sound, 
national  and  consistent  statesman,  and  the  acknowledged  leader  of  the  great 
Democratic  party,  to  a  level  with  the  despicable  and  groveling  political  gam- 
blers, who  place  a  higher  value  upon  self-promotion  and  agrantiizement  than 
upon  their  integrity  as  public  servants  and  patriotic  citizens,  his  admirers 
and  friends  at  the  South  generally  abandoned  him  to  the  fate  which  his 
hery  had  carved  out  for  him.     His  celebrated  Harper's  Magazine  article 


8 

followed  his  treason  in  the  United  States  Senate,  and  on  the  stump  in  Illi- 
nois; and  if  any  doubts  yet  remained  in  the  Southern  mind  as  to  his  defini- 
tion of  Squatter  Sovereignty,  this  article  completely  eradicated  them.  He 
emphatically  declared  that  a  territorial  legislature  possessed  the  indisputable 
right  to  abolish  slavery  from  its  limits,  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court 
to  the  contrary,  notwithstanding.  This  avowal  won  to  his  support  the  en- 
tire Democratic  party  North,  with  a  few  honorable  exceptions,  while  it  con- 
vinced the  South  of  his  perfidy.  The  few  among  us  who  still  clung  to  his 
fortunes  were  principally  men  of  his  own  stripe,  political  desperadoes  and 
mountebanks,  who  would  sacrifice  friendship,  honor,  and  even  country,  for 
office  and  its  spoils.  The  leading  measures  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  adminis- 
tration have  furnished  him  and  his  friends  ample  opportunities  to  evince 
their  opposition,  which  they  have  embraced  with  an  eagerness  unequalled  by 
the  most  rabid  Abolitionists. 

The  magnanimity  of  the  southern  Senators  and  Representatives  in  Con- 
gress was  nobly  displayed  when  Oregon  and  Minnesota  applied  for  admission 
into  the  Union  as  sovereign  States.  Their  Constitutions  positively  prohib- 
ited slavery,  and  their  admission  would  increase  the  represenative  strength 
of  their  enemies  in  both  branches  of  Congress,  but  this  the  members  from 
the  South  knew  to  be  no  valid  objection,  and  having  been  always  actu- 
ated by  a  patriotic  attachment  to  the  Constitution  aud  a  desire  for  the  en- 
forcement of  all  laws  which  coincide  with  that  instrument,  they  forgot 
their  prejudices  and  self-interests,  and  voted  as  a  body  for  the  admission  of 
these  States,  which  have  already  turned  their  batteries  against  the  South 
and  her  institutions.  Prom  some  strange  cause  the  Black  Republicans  were 
opposed  to  their  admission.  Is  not  the  contrast  most  striking  between  the 
friends  of  Minnesota  and  Oregon  and  the  opponents  to  the  admission  of  Kan- 
sas under  the  Leeompton  Constitution?  But  it  is  easily  accounted  for.  The 
Southern  men  were  governed  by  their  sense  of  duty  and  respect  for  the  Con- 
stitution, while  those  from  the  North  were  swayed  by  selfishness,  and  prej- 
udice to  everything  Democratic  or  Constitutional. 

Again  the  period  had  arrived  for  politicians  to  busy  themselves  about  the 
forthcoming  Presidential  Campaign.  In  the  North  there  seemed  to  have 
been  but  one  choice  among  the  so  called  Democratic  Party,  and  that  choice 
was  the  arrant  appostate  and  wire-puller,  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  of  Illinois. 
The  time  specified  for  the  assembling  of  the  Charleston  Convention  was 
near  at  hand,  and  already  the  various  States  had  nominated  their  respective 
delegates.  The  South  was  divided  between  James  Guthrie  and  John  C. 
Breckinridge  of  Kentucky,  Daniel  S.  Dickinson  of  New  York,  Andrew 
Johnson  of  Tennessee,  &c,  &o.  Douglas  had  also  a  few  supporters  from  this 
quarter.  The  convention  met  at  Charleston  on  the  23d  of  April  last,  and  in 
scanning  its  proceedings  to-day,  I  am  reminded  more  of  the  Rump  Parliament 
which  Cromwell  dissolved,  than  of  any  other  deliberative  body.  One  hun- 
dred and  fifty  delegates  from  abolition  States  endeavored  to  force  a  man  upon 
the  convention  upon  whom  the  Southern  or  Democratic  States  could  place  no 
reliance.  The  South  from  her  knowledge  of  Mr.  Douglas'  political  character, 
could  not  in  justice  to  herself  support  him  for  the  Presidency.  His  friends 
were  fully  aware  of  this  fact;  and  if  they  desired  the  harmony  of  the  Conven- 
tion and  the  partiy's  success  why  did  they  not  remove  the  only  impediment 
to  both,  by  withdrawing  his  name  as  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency.  Their 
tenacity  in  blockading  the  proceedings  of  that  body  with  his  name,  strength- 
ened the  prevailing  impression  among  the  Southern  Delegates,  that  they 
had  sold  themselves  and  their  party  to  the  Black  Republicans.     The  two-third 


having  been  adopted  at  Charleston,  upwards  of   .seventy    ball 
before  the  Convention  saw  how  futile  their  efforts  were 
inatioa.     I  have  every  reason  to  believe  that  were  it  not  for  the  few  i 
seekers  and  demagogs  who  drew  the  wool  over  the  eyes  of  the  Lou;.- 
Democracy  in  having  themselves  nominated  as  delegates,  that  the   harm 
of  the  Convention  would   ha\  stored.     These   men  rayed 

their  constituency  were  old  I  erats,  and  personal  enemies  of  Mr 

Slidell.     By  misrepresent] 

they  encouraged  his  friends  from  t]  e  Northin  their  i 

liile,  in  open  Convention  backed  by  Ids  fellow  intrigues,  pledged  Louisiana  to 
cast  her  vote   for  Douglas  by  an  overwhelming  majority.     The  sequal  has 
proven  that  he  has  scarcely  a  corporal's  guard  of  political  frieu 
and  that  the  influence  and  standing  of  these  men  at  home,  are  anything  but 
dangerous  or  enviable.     The  Delegations  from  seve 

coming  disgusted  with  the  arrogance  and  obstinacy  uglasites,  with- 

drew from  the  Convention  andappi  i  9th  of  June  for  the  assembling 

ol  a  Southern  Convention  at  Richmond,  Va..  which  for  some  obscure  reason 
aever  convened.     Thefriends  of  Douglas  seemed  to  labor  under  the  delusion 
that  the  South   might    eventually    acquiesce  to   his   nominati 
adjourned  to  meet  at  Baltimore  on  the  18th  of  June.     No  better  si 
at  tended  the  eilbrts  of  this  convention,  and   after  exhausting  the; 
and  influence  the  Southern  Delegates  withdrew,  bes  from 

the  Northern   States,  and  formed  themselves  into  as  ouvention. 

This  body  represented   every  Democrat  and  its  nominees  should 

certainly  have  been  regarded  by  all  good  Democrats   as  having  the 
claims  upon  thfcir  stffferages.     John  C.  Breckenridge  cf  K  nom- 

inated for  President  and  Joseph  Lane  of  Oregon  for  Vice  I  The 

Douglas  wing  of  the  Convention  of  course  chose  their  idol  as  their 
bearer,  and  awarded  to  Senator  Fitzpatriek.  of  Alabama,  the  I       ce  on 

the  ticket,  an  honor  which  that   gentleie  1 

eagerly  accepted  by  Ilershel  V.  Johnson,  of  Georgia  —a  "liber 

and  less  good  sense. 

In   the  meantime,  the  Black  Republican  Convention  had  ass 
Chicago  in  May,  and  nominated  Abraham  Lincoln,  of  Illinois,  for  President, 
and  Hanibal   I'lamhiin,    of  Main,  for  Vice  President     Tb 
form  purely  seeional  in  its  tenor,  and  red  upon  the  rights  o 

South.     A  total  disrespect  was  manifested  in  all  its  proceedings  iov  the  Fed- 
eral Constitution;  and  their  candidates   pledged  themselves  in  accepting 
nominations  tendered  them,  that  if  elected,  they  would  efcfori  -       y  un- 

derstood it,  and  not  as  the  Supreme  Court    had  construed  it.     In  short  un- 
compromising hostility  to  slavery  and  everything  Southern,  main 
plank  in  this  party's  platform.     The  succ                   .principles  would  pi 
the  rights  of  the  South  at  the  mercy  oi  her  eu                                  ■  ed  her  to 
unite  upon  one  candidate  and  by  the  aid  of  her  friend.-  at  the  X 
be  enabled  to  overthrow  the  abolition  myriads  who  men 
privileges,  and  who  would  certainly  destroy  them  should  the  power  be  ever 
placed  in  their  hands.     But  having  been  victimized  and  deceived  by  unprin- 
cipled men,  her  people  become  devided  and  mistrustful  of  e  -nd, 
following  in  the  wake  of  their  respective  leaders,  they  oontrit                   it  as 
largely  to  their  own  defeat  as  did  the  sup                  Lincoln. 

"A "new  party  rose  from  the  ashes  of  the  old  lin .  Noth- 

ing, alias  American,  alias  Opposition,  and  dubbing  themselves  the  Constitu- 
tional Union  Party,  met  in  Baltimore  early  in  June,  they  adopted 


10 

stitution  of  the  United  States,  as  their  platform,  and  nominated  the  old 
fogies  and  Free  Soilers,  John  Bell,  of  Tenn.,  and  Edward  Everett,  of  Mass. . 
fo°the  offices  of  President  and  Vice  President.  The  evasive  manoeverings 
of  the  men  who  composed  this  convention  recall  to  mind  many  of  the  sharp 
dodges  of  Whiggery,  and  one  is  constrained  to  suggest  the  substitution  of  the 
'  'Fox"  for  the  "Coon"  as  the  true  emblem  of  the  new  party.  What  assurance 
had  the  people  of  the  South  from  these  men  that  they  would  place  the 
proper  construction  upon  the  Constitution  and  Laws  ?  Their  political  history 
made  them  friends  and  allies  of  Seward,  Chase,  Sumner,  Wilson,  Giddings, 
Wade,  &c.,  &c,  and  pending  the  recent  campaign  John  Bell  declined  to  an- 
swer a  few' simple  questions  propounded  to  him  by  a  gentleman  from  Miss- 
issippi, touching  the  subject  of  slavery.  As  for  myself,  I  was  convinced  of  Mr. 
B's  anti-slavery  proclivities  in  a  conversation  I  had  with  him  last  Summer. 
He  said  that  slavery  was  a  great  moral  and  political  evil,  and  that  we  must 
do  the  best  we  can  with  it.  He  was  also  opposed  to  its  further  extension ; 
and  from  the  general  tone  of  his  conversation  he  seemed  to  regard  it  as  a  great 
moral  and  political  wrong.  I  heard  him  deliver  himself  of  a  speech  the 
following  day,  after  which  I  pronounced  him  to  be  a  Black  Republican  in 
feeling  and  principles,  and  opposed  to  the  South  and  her  interests  as  much 
as  Seward  and  Lincoln.  I  have  used  all  honorable  means  in  my  power,  to 
enlighten  the  people  as  to  his  real  sentiments  on  this  issue.  After  the  result 
the  late  election  became  known,  a  gentleman  of  New  Orleans  called  upon 
Bell  at  Nashville,  Tenn.,  and  after  transacting  some  private  business  with 
him,  he  asked,  if  there  was  any  truth  in  the  rumor,  that  Lincoln  had  tender- 
ed him  a  seat  m  his  Cabinet,  and  if  so,  did  he  intend  to  accept  it?  Bell 
replied  that  he  would  accept  the  office,  as  he  believed  Mr.  Lincoln  to  be  a 
sound  conservative  man,  and  that  he  was  about  to  correspond  with  h;m  upon 
the  subject.  This  circumstance  is  known  to  Bell's  friends  in  New  Orleans, 
and  they  do  not  doubt  its  veracity.  The  people  should  be  acquainted  with 
the  precise  opinions  of  all  men  who  aspire  to  political  honors,  and  if  they 
decline  to  furnish  such  information,  they  forfeit  all  claims  to  the  suffrage  of 
the  people.  John  Bell  would  be  the  last  man  in  the  United  States  whom  I 
would  trust  to  preside  over  a  free  people,  without  having  him  bound  by  the 
most  sacred  pledges,  to  a  written  code  of  principles ;  and  even  then  I  would 
be  doubtful  of  their  faithful  fulfilment.  I  am  better  satisfied  with  the  elec- 
tion of  Lincoln,  than  I  would  have  been  had  Bell  been  the  successful  man. 
True,  our  financial  and  commercial  affairs  are  somewhat  embarrassed ;  but 
they  will  brighten  and  improve  when  the  present  "  gust "  has  subsided. 

The  campaign  fairly  commenced,  the  foresight  of  a  prophet  was  not  re- 
quired to  predict  which  party  would  triumph.  Our  enemies  in  the  North 
were  united  as  one  man  upon  Lincoln,  while  the  South  was  rent  into  three 
distinct  factions,  and  each  claiming  the  palm  as  her  true  friends  and  cham- 
pions. Many  well-meaning  men  were  deluded  by  the  spread-eagle  stumpers 
of  Douglas  and  Bell,  to  abandon  the  cause  of  the  true  Democracy,  and  to 
enlist  under  the  Ding-dong  and  Squatter  banners — thus  furnishing  the  whir) 
which  now  scourges  themselves,  and  the  rope  which  is  to  hang  them.  All 
attempts  to  unite  the  South  upon  Mr.  Breckinridge  having  failed,  his  friends 
calmly  awaited  their  defeat.  The  North,  with  183  electoral  votes,  went 
for  Lincoln ;  while  the  South,  with  only  120  electoral  votes,  was  divided : — 
For  Breckinridge,  11  States,  or  73  electoral  votes;  Bell,  three  States,  or  39 
electoral  votes ;  Douglas,  1  State,  or  8  electoral  votes.  Thus  it  will  be  seen, 
that  had  Mr.  Breckinridge  carried  all  the  Southern  States,  he  would  still 
lack  32  votes  of  having  a  majority  in  the  electoral  college.     The  friends  of 


11 

Slate  Rights,  North  and  South,  had  they  united,  they  could  have  elected 
their  man,  and  saved  the  country  all  the  present  trouble.  The  Douglas  and 
Bell  men  are  responsible  for  the  results.  Douglas,  who  impudently  asserted 
throughout  his  late  stumping  tour  that  he  was  the  regular  nominee  of  the 
Democratic  party,  and  that  Breckinridge  was  a  bolter,  has  had  his  ambitious 
pretensions  nipped  in  the  bud  by  being  the  worst-whipped  man  that  was 
placed  in  nomination  for  the  Presidency.  And  John  Bell  must  also  feel 
hi'jhty  flattered  at  the  decided  endorsement  his  love  for  the  Union  received 
from  the  people.  Mr.  Breckinridge,  though  defeated,  has  the  proud  consola- 
tion of  having  received  the  cordial  support  of  all  true  national  and  Southern 
men — showing  their  confidence  in  his  political  honesty  and  statesmanship. 

Lincoln  is  elected,  and  the  question  is  pertinently  broached  as  to  the  pro- 
per course  for  the  South  to  pursue.  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Florida,  Ala- 
bama and  Texas  are  making  active  preparations  to  secede,  and  companies  of 
Minute  Men  arc  being  formed  in  all  the  slaveholding  States.  While  the 
latter  precaution  meets  with  my  hearty  approbation,"  I  think  the  States 
above-named  are  too  hasty  in  their  movements.  It  will  be  as  easy  to  secede 
four  months  hence  as  to-day  ;  and  it  is  no  more  than  right  to  give  the  pi 
time  for  reflection  before  precipitating  them  into  a  bloody  revolution — father 
against  son  and  brother  against  brother.  Even  I  have  not  yet  discerned  the 
benefits  which  immediate  secession  would  best,w  upon  the  South.  When 
they  are  shown  to  me,  I  say,  by  all  means,  let  us  secede;  but  until  then,  T 
shall  advise  moderation.  I  thing  our  rights  are  more  secure  iri  the  T 
than  (hey  would  be  were  we  a  separate  confederacy,  depending  upon  our 
r  sources  for  protection.  I  judge  that  about  one  to  every  five  of  those  blue 
cockade  gentry  would  "come  to  the  scrath,"  if  summoned.  The  loudest 
boasters  ace  the  poorest  fighters.  In  the  event  of  secession,  Canada  will 
at  the  very  doors  of  the  border  Slave  Slates,  and  to  protect  tJ 
na  invasions,  we  would  have  to  station  armed  forces  along  the  frontier — 
more  than  iwo  thousand  miles  in  length;  and  our  boundless  sea  coast  would 
also  have  to  be  guarded  by  a  large  and  powerful  navy.  To  carry  i 
tral  Government,  together  with  its  necessary  and  precautionary  appendages 
require  an  enormous  annual  outlay.  I  fear  the  experiment  would 
would  only  be  of  a  few  years'  duration,  and  would  finally  explode  in  irrc- 
trevable  bankruptcy  of  the  whole  South.  We  have  not  yet  experienced  the 
burthensomc  taxation,  or  galling  dospotism,  of  European  governments ;  and 
though  we  may  escape  the  latter  evil,  the  former  is  bound  to  fall  upon  us,  if 
we  secede.  Free  Trade  with  all  nations  has  ever  been  a  favorite  principle 
with  the  cotton  States,  and  if  the  contemplated  Southern  Confederacy  ap- 
prove of  it,  the  sugar  planters  will  be  ruined,  as  they  cannot  compete  with 
the  West  Indies. 

Believe  me,  we  can  better  repel  the  encroachments  of  the  Abolitionists 
as  we  are  now  situated,  than  when  we  have  released  them  from  the  com- 
pact entered  into  over  70  years  ago,  between  the  patriots  of  both  sections  of 
the  Confederacy.  Many  who  now  feel  themselves  bound  by  this  compact 
to  respect  our  rights,  will  then  be  at  liberty  to  operate  as  they  please.  I 
say,  while  we  have  them  muzzled,  let  us  keep  them  so,  and  if  any  succeed 
in  getting  it  off,  and  try  to  bite,  let  them  be  shot  down  as  dogs. 

It  appears  to  me  that  the  advocates  of  secession  are  the  real  submissionists 
after  fairly  balancing  the  profits  and  losses  of  the  movement  to  the  South. 
They  wish  a  majority  to  surrender  to  a  minority  the  most  improved  and 
wealthy  portion  of  the  Union;  we  wish  to  give  this  minority  nothing  but 
kicks  and  blows,  for  assailing  our  rights  and  committing  treason  against  the 


12 

Ponstitution.  Ail  white  persons,  born  or  naturalized  under  IL  S.  lawSj  a,-. 
citizen?,  provided  they  have ■not  hcen  guilty  of  treason,- felony,  or  Wee  criminal 
offenses,  or  become  citizens  or  subjects  of  foreign  nations.  Now,  I  contend 
that  Abolitionists  are  not  citizens  of  the  United  States,  because  they  are 
traitors  to  its  laws;  and  the  idea  of  giving  into  their  hands  the  great  cities  of 
New  York,  Philadelphia,  Boston  and  San  Francisco,  on  the  sea-board,  and 
Buffalo,  Chicago.  Detroit,  Cleveland,  Mihvaalki,  Pittsburg,  Cincinnati,  &c, 
scattered  along  the  lakes,  rivers  and  railroads  of  the  North,  is  too  ridiculous 
to  admit  of  expostulaton  or  argument.  As  a  citizen  of  the  United  States, 
I  am  opposed  to  submit  any  portion  of  it  to  abolition,  tory  or  alien  rule. 
All  of  these  cities  have  been  built  up  and  enriched  by  Southern  capital,  and 
the  South  by  leaving  the  Union,  not  only  looses  the  principal  and  interest  of 
this  investment,  but  she  furnishes  her  enemies  with  the  means  and  power 
to  injure  her  ten-fold  more  than  ever. 

I  do  not  view  secession  as  treasonable  or  unrighteous,  and  never  justifi- 
able; on  the  contrary,  I  think  it  impolitic  and  uncalled  for  as  things  now 
stand.  But  when  we  ascertain  that  we  cannot  maintain  our  rights  in  the 
Union,  it  becomes  the  imperative  duty  of  the  Southern  States  to  harmonize 
and  withdraw  en  masse.  Unanimity  must  precede  secession,  and  if  this 
cannot  be  gained  we  may  well  dispair  of  ever  succeeding  in  organizing  our- 
selves into  a  unit,  for  our  common  protection  and  prosperity.  Let  none 
insist  on  this  dread  alternative,  that  will  not  also  insist  upon  taking  every 
inch  of  slave  territory  along  with  us.  Let  us  run  a  boundary  line  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Ohio  at  Cairo,  up  the  Mississippi,  and  along  its  tributaries 
which  divide  Wisconsin  from  Minnesota,,  until  we  reach  lake  Superior  and 
the  British  possessions,  and  all  the  territory,  including  the  river,  on  the  west 
side,  shall  be  ours — this  being  the  original  Louisiana  Purchase,  Then  let 
the  Ohio  river,  including  it,  be  the  boundary  between  the  slave  States,  Vir- 
ginia and  Kentucky,  and  the  free  States,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Indiana  and 
Illinois,  and  all  the  territory  on  the  eastern  side  shall  belong  to  us.  Then 
let  us  break  off  all  commercial  and  social  relations  between  the  two  sections 
by  prohibiting  the  free  navigation  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  rivers  by  steam- 
boats laden  with  northern  pruduce,  manufacture,  &c.  Forbid  our  seaports 
to  their  ships,  and  themselves  to  traverse  our  territory.  Thus  we  can  oper- 
ate upon  the  ran 'It  point  in  the  Yankee  character,  and  make  them  curse  the 
day  they  first  meddled  with  our  rights. 

~  There  is  no  object  gained  in  trying  to  convince  these  whining  agitators 
that  the  condition  of  the  negro  is  better  as  a  slave  in  the  South  than  as  a 
freeman  in  the  North,  or  in  Africa.     This  they  all  know  as  well  as  ourselves. 
Therefore,  it  is  obvious  that  they  have  no  sympathy  with  the  slave,  and  that 
they  seek  only  to  deceive  the  masses  at  the  ballot  box,  and  to  overthrow 
our  present  liberal  form  of  government,  that  they  may  rear  up  a  more  intol- 
erant one,  thereby  making  the  aristocratic  and  wealthy  more  powerful,  and 
the  poor  and  destitute  more  dependent  and  abject.     Nations  and  individuals 
of  all  ages  have  had  to  sacrifice  part  of  their  natural  rights,  for  the  benefit 
of  society  and  their  own  safety;  and  pray,  why  should  the  negro  be  exempt 
from  a  rule  so  ancient  and  universal     In  his  own  country  he  is  but  one  de- 
above  the  brute;  and  it  takes  a  life  time  of  ceaseless  watching  and  tui- 
ion  to  fender  him  passive  and  useful.     That  nature  has  placed  the  stamp  of 
'ority  upon   the  blade  race,  is  admitted  by  all;  that  they  are  incapable 
govern  and  otherwise  act  for  themselves,  even  when  educated  in  the 
highest  branches  of  civilization,  lias  been  conclusively  proven  in  the  attempt 
■Ionize  Liberia;  that  the  disposition,   customs  and  habits  of  the  whit* 


13 

and  biack  races  differ  so  widely  as  to  rend'T  i(  necessary,  for  the  wehai 
both,  that  one  must  govern  the  other.     T  fttellect,  intelligence 

an^  moral  culture,  declare  that  race  the  raosl  tt  to  rule.     Having 

an  interest  in  hi  "  s,  and  being  .1  slaveholder  my  whole  life, 

I  will  give  my  treatment  as  a  sample  of  how  they  are  treated  in 

the  South.  I  feed*  clothe  and  lodge  them  better  than  are  thousands  of  poor 
families  at  the  Nortjj.  Every  Northern  man  who  visits  my  plantation  de? 
elares  so.  and  my  own  observation,  when  North,  corroborates  with  this 
declaration.     They  arc  never  inhumanly  punisl  |  :  by  Northern  over- 

seers, who  are  always  discharged  when  the  fact  is  known.  When'sick,  they 
have  good  medic:.!  attendance,  and  are  nursed  with  all  possible  care,  ii 
married.  I  furnish  them  houses  and  gardens,  and  various  kinds  seeds.  A\. 
to  raise  for  themselves.  Their  respect  and  attachment  to  myself  and  family 
arc  the  best  evidences  of  their  happiness  and  contentment.  The  sympathy 
which  exists  between  master  and  slave,  is  contrite  and  pure;  and  the  incar- 
llers  who  try  to  mar  it.  must  be  related  to  Attn  who  first  drove 
man  to  sin.  and  a  just  God  will  doom  them  to  as  lasting  a  punishment. 

If  "  Passing  events  cast  their  shadows  before,"  the  Abolitionists  might 
as  well  try  to  prevent  the  sun  from  rising  on  the  morning  of  the  4th  of  next 
March,  as  to  prevent  the  secession  of  the  Southern  States.  All  that  we 
ask  now.  or  ever  did  ask  is.  that  our  eights  must  be  respected  by  the  people 
of  the  North.  "We  not  only  respect  theirs,  but  ouf  delegates  to  Coiv_ 
have  invariably  voted  for  laws  protecting  them-.  All  their  industrial  pursuits 
Bach  as  ship-building,  cloth  and  cotton  factoring,  iron  working,  cod  fishing, 
Ac.,  Ac.  arq  pi  ,d  Government,  at  an  enormous  expense 

to  the  South,  and  yet  avc  have  never  complained.  If  Abraham  Lincoln  is 
allowed  to  be  inaugerated  President,  with  a  majority  of  over  300.000  of  the 
popular  vote  against  him.  before  we  are  <l   in  our  rights,  then,  I 

say,  for  the  South  to  arm.  march  n  ington,  and  drive  him  and  his 

thieving  adherants  from  the  capital.  Successful  revolution  is  not  treason: 
and  that  we  will  succeed  is  pertain,  from  the  fact  that  we  have  an  over- 
whelming majority  of  the  people  of  the  Union  favorable  to  our  cause.  Such 
a  step  will  preserve  the  Constitution  and  Union,  and  make  doubly  safe  our 
own  light-.  It  will  strike  terror  into  the  hearts  of  the  cowardly  and  dom- 
ineering Black  Republicans,  and  they  will  be  but  too  willing  to  make  all  the 
restitution  Ave  may  think  proper  to  demand  of  them  for  their  past  insults 
and  injuries. 

It  is  with  extreme  regret  that  I  have  noticed  the  indecisive  position  as- 
sumed by  the  President  in  his  late  Message,  He  is  like  a  reed  Avavering  in 
the  breeze.  No  one  can  tell  which  Avay  he  leans  the  most,  and  the  only  way 
10  ascertain  is,  to  wait  and  sec.  I  doubt  Avhether  he  knows  is  own  mind 
on  the  present  state  of  affairs.  However,  he  has  refused  to  send  any  more 
troops  to  Fort  Moultrie,  through  fear  of  provoking  the  citizens  of  Charleston 
to  open  rebellion,  as  that  fort  is  in  the  Charleston  Bay.  This  was  a  discreet 
stroke  of  policy,  to  say  the  least,  in  the  President;  but  not  so  thought  his 
Secretary  of  State.  Mr.  Cass.  avIio  immediately  resigned  because  the  Presi- 
dent did  cot  comply,  and  send  more  troops  to  protect  U.  S.  property,  where 
it  is  in  reality  safer  than  in  Washington;  The  only  excuse  that  can  be  made 
for  Mr.  Cass"  desertion  of  the  South,  at  this  late  hour,  is  his  extreme  old 
out  whether  this  will  suffice  with  some  people  I  cannot  say.  Certainly 
he  is  not  the  same  brave  and  resolute  man  that  he  was  in  the  Avar  of  1811' 
when  General  Hull  surrendered  Detroit  to  the  British,  he  broke  his  sword 
upon  his  knee   rather  than  give  it  up.     The    resignation    of  Mr.  Cass,  and 


14 

John  SlidcU's  late  attack  upon  the  President,  have  shook  ray  unwavering 
faith  in  Northern  Democrats  so  much,  that  I  shall  suspicion  the  most  ortho- 
dox of  them  hereafter.  I  cannot  say  that  Messrs.  Toombs,  Hammond,  &c, 
acted  over  wisely  in  resigning  their  seats  in  the  U.  S.  Senate.  It  goes  to 
show  that  they  arc  too  eager  for  the  "  melee,"  or  they  must  have  stronger 
reasons  to  believe  that  the  days  of  compromise  have  passed,  between  the  two 
sections  of  the  Confederacy,  than  they  have  yet  given  to  the  public.  As 
servants  of  their  respective  States,  they  should  have  remained  in  the  Senate 
until  their  constituencies  withdrew  from  the  Union,  or  until  ther  successors 
had  been  elected.  But,  perhaps,  they  knew  best  what  to  do,  as  their  poli- 
tical foresight  is  far  more  acute  than  mine.  (Since  the  above  was  placed  in 
the  hands  of  the  printer,  a  private  despatch  has  been  received  from  Mr. 
Slidell  declaring  that  there  is  not  one  word  of  truth  in  the  report  of  his 
having  assailed  the  President.)        9 

Every  unbiassed  and  reflecting  man  must  acknowledge  the  superior  ad- 
vantages the  South  possesses  over  the  North.  New  <  hdeans,  for  instance, 
at  no  distant  day  is  destined  to  become  one  of  the  first  commercial  empori- 
ums in  the  world.  By  the  removal  of  the  bar  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi 
river,  the  largest  vessels  that  float  the  ocean  can  enter  her  port ;  then  we 
can  open  direct  trade  with  all  nations,  instead  of  depending  upon  New  York 
and  other  eastern  cities  for  various  articles  of  foreign  traffic,  as  we  now  do. 
We  can  make  New  Orleans  one  of  the  m>  >st  healthy  and  desirable  places  to 
live  on  this  continent,  by  establishing  a  strict  quarantine  to  exclude  the 
Yellow  Fever,  &e.  Her  inland  commercial  resources  excel  these  of  any 
other  city  on  the  globe.  All  the  produce,  &c,  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi 
Vallies  must  be  brought  to  this  city,  as  it  is  the  nearest  and  most  accessable 
market  and  sea-port  to  these  fertile  regions.  And  further,  the  vast  extent 
of  Southern  territory  yet  unoccupied,  must,  in  time,  increase  our  wealth, 
influence  and  importance  among  the  nations  of  the  earth,  beyond  the  most 
extravagant  calculations  of  the  present  generation. 

That  portion  of  the  old  Whig  party  which  refused  to  affiliate  with  the 
Abolitionists  or  Know  Nothings,  but  joined  the  Democracy  in  defending  the 
rights  of  all  <  >ur  citizens,  native  and  adopted,  have  changed  the  preju  dice  and 
mistrust  I  formerly  harbored  againt  them  into  sincere  admiration  and  re- 
spect. Their  alliance  enabled  us  to  postpone  the  present  conflict,  and  now, 
as  it  has  come,  I  hope  they  will  stand  shuulder  to  shoulder  with  us  through- 
out the  struggle,  and  enable  us  to  rescue  the  good  old  ship  of  state  from  the 
clumsy,  and  unscrupulous  politicians  that  are  now  commanding  her.  This 
age  will  be  as  celebrated  in  American  history,  for  office-seeking  demagogues 
and  traitors,  as  the  preceding  one  was  for  patriots  and  statesmen:  and  this, 
I  think,  fully  accounts  for  the  present,  distracted  c  mdition  of  the  nation.  A 
statesman  like  Jefferson,  Madison,  or  Jacks. >n,  could  yet  save  the  Union; 
but,  alas,  wo  have  none  such!  Therefore;  I  would  beseech  the  people  to 
take  the  matter  into  their  own  hands  before  it  is  too  late.  The  supporters 
of  Bell  and  Douglas,  that  is,  the  wromineut  ones,  will  never  receive  from  me 
the  right  hand  of  fellowship,  until  I  am  fully  convinced  that  they  have  re- 
pented for  suppling  these  men.  I  shall  always  view  them  as  snakes  in 
the  grass,  ready  to  inflict  a  poisonous  wound  whenever  they  catch  us  nap- 
ping. The  mode  of  initiation  is  laid  down  in  my  platform,  and  if  they  pass 
through  that  ordeal  unscathed,  they  may  with  safety  be  admitted.  Against 
the  masses,  who  were  deceived  into  the  support  of  Douglas  and  Bell,  I  en- 
tertain no  enmity  whatever,  but  I  would  suggest  to  them  to  be  on  their 
guard  in  the  future,  and  not  permit  themselves  to  be  decoyed  from  the  fold 
by  wolves  in  sheeps'  clothing. 


]  have  noticed  several  disgusting  and  insultiag  paragraphs,  taken  from 
Abolition  papers,  ridiculing  the  idea  of  the  Soiithfsrn-States  seceding  and 
insinuating  that   we  dare  not  resist  the  aggressions  of  the   North  or  the 

army  and  navy  of  the  federal  Government  when  at  the  disposal  of  an  ab- 
olition President,  and  used  by  him  to  enforce  the  traitorous  and  damnable 
decrees  of  his  party.  Let  us  see  from  which  side  comes  this  'buncumb'  and 
bravado,  which  these  Bcurrolous  sheets  assert  as  being  characteristic  of 
Southerners.  I  distinctly  remember  when  South  Carolina  equipped  and 
armed  her  citizens,  in  1S33,  to  resist  an  unjust  tariff  which  actually  reduced 
the  price  of  cotton  nearly  $40  per  bale.  The  people  bore  without  a  murmur 
the  exorbitant  extra  taxation  of  over  $500,000,  to  help  bear  expenses  and 
would  not  ground  their  arms  until  a  satisfactory  compromise  was  agreed 
upon.  And  pray,  will  not  a  united  South,  composed  of  fifteen  South  Caro- 
liuas,  be  equally  willing  to  undergo  a  similar  taxation,  to  resist  an  unprin- 
cipled abolition  Executive ?  Most  certainly  she  will;  and  to  subdue  her  it 
will  require  more  forces  than  the  government  at  Washington  can  summon 
to  its  aid,  including  the  swarms  of  Wide- Awakes,  that  have  pledged  them- 
selves to  guard  Lincoln  at  the  Capital,  and  to  quell  all  attempts'  made  at 
secession  by  the  South.  Compel  the  South  to  recognize  Lincoln  as  her  le- 
-/'iuiate  ruler!  is  the  cry  of  such  abolition  sheets  as'the  Chicago  Democrat 
—the  organ  of  Lincoln  and  the  Illinois  Wide-A wakes,  and  edited  by  the 
notorious  libertine  and  vulgar  scribbler.  John  Wentworth.  mayor  of  the 
mushroom  city  of  Chicago,  and  the  originator  of  licensing  houses  of  prostitu- 
tion. In  a  recent  editorial  article,  this  Shanghi  cockatrice  wants  to  know 
if  the  South  "won't  eat  dirt,"  by  retracting  all  she  has  said  regarding  seces- 
sion, her  rights,  &c.  If  "Long  John"  will  cross  Mason  &  Dixon's  line  and 
repeat  his  interrogatory,  he  will  be  answered  after  the  manner  Virginia 
served  his  double— John  Brown.  But  the  cowardly  braggart  dare  not°risk 
his  ungainly  carcase  upon  our  soil;  no,  nor  dare  Abraham  Lincoln  even 
visit  Kentucky— his  native  State— lest  a  similar  "hospitality  "  might  await 
him  there.  His  position  is  without  a  precedent  in  the  history  of  civilized 
nations.  Elected  by  a  fanatical  minority,  through  the  imperfection  of  our 
federal  election  laws,  to  preside  over  a  people,  two-thirds  of  whom  would 
hang  him  on  sight  as  a  traitor,  he  will  have  the  impudence,  no  doubt,  to 
make  good  his  pretensions  to  the  Presidential  chair,  and  thus  bring  revolu- 
tion and  ruin  upon  his  country.  If  he  is  for  the  perpetuation  and  peace  of 
the  Union,  as  his  friends  allege,  why  does  he  not  resign  in  favor  of  some 
conservative  Northern  man  ?  The  fact  is,  he  is  the  originator  of  the  "  irre- 
pressible conflict," — "a  house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand,"  is  his 
motto— an  1  he  will  surely  put  it  to  the  test  the  first  opportunity  offered  him 
after  his  inaugeration.  "  The  South  must  sul  unit  to  abolition  rule  or  secede," 
is  the  prevailing  opinion  among  the  friends  of  Southern  rights;  but  it  never 
has  been  mine,  because  I  think  both  these  calamities  can  be  averted.  Yes, 
when  the  tongue  and  pen  have  failed  to  convince  these  dogged  and  merciless 
less  antagonists  to  our  just  demands,  let  us  resort  to  the  sword,  and  face  to  face 
upon  their  own  soil,  and  at  their  own  thresholds,  let  us  confront  them.  If 
unanimity  of  purpose,  and  a  determination  not  to  submit,  prevail  among  us 
we  must  succeed,  though  not  one  Northern  friend  should  come  to  our°aid'. 
The  liberty  of  the  press  was  never  prostituted  more  basely  than  in  the 
recent  Presidential  campaign.  The  Washington  Intelligencer,  for  instance, 
after  pursuing  a  lake-warm  course  for  thirty  years,  has  at  last  taken  a  stand 
among  the  rank  and  file  of  our  enemies.  It  has  several  imitators  in  the 
Southern  States,  but  more  especially  in  Louisiana.     The  N.  O.  Picayune  is 


i  -iiake  in  the  grassland  the  Bulletin,  Bee,  and  Crescent,  jia\c  openlj 
though  indirectly,  contributed  their  influence  to  insure  Lincoln's  election. 
The  Crescent,  however,  has  recanted  since  the  election,  but  T  Question  the 
motives  which  now  actuate  it,  or  those  whose  mouth-piece  it  is-  If  t.iu-y 
unite  with  us  to  resist  our  common  enemy,  it  Is  well;  but  if  their  inveterate 
hatred  to  the  Democratic  party  has  prompted  them  to  act  with  us  now,  that 
they  can  more  eifectually  break'  up  our  party  hereafter,  and  Strengthen! 
their  own,  they  will  find  themselves  cheek-mated  the  first  move  they  make. 
You  are  watched,  gentlemen,  and  the  first  false  step  you  m'ike,  the  docts 
of  our  party  will  be  closed  against  you  forever.  You  iray  shriek  disuion  of 
the  States  until  you  grow  black  in  the  lace,  (and  1  think  you  do  that  now 
on  account  of  its  popularity,)  but  the  first  whimper  you  breathe  derogatory 
to  the  Southern  Rights  Democracy,  overboard  you  go. 

Are  the  Abolitionists,  mock-philanthropists  and  nigger-worshippers 
aware  of  the  fact  that  in  case  the  South  secedes  from  the  Union,  she  will 
immediately  open  the  African  Slave  Trade?  Are  they  aware  that  they 
will  be  denied  the  free  navigation  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  river,  Hon. 
John  Slidell's  word  to  the  contrary,  notwithstanding?  Are  they  aware  that 
we  can  live  without  them,  and  that  they  cannot  without  us?  The  Black 
Republican  leaders  have  known  these  things  all  the  time,  but  their  uncon- 
querable avarice  and  ambition  have  made  them  blind  to  the  true  interests  or 
their  section  and  constituents.  I  firmly  believe  that  a  majority  of  the  peo- 
ple north  are  opposed  to  interfering  with  our  rights,  and  that  ii  the  question 
was  fairly  submitted  to  them  to-day  :  "  Shall  the  constitutional  rights  of  the 
South  be  recognized  by  the  repeal  of  all  obnoxious  State  laws,"  that  they 
would  decide  the  question  in  the  affirmative  by  a  large  majority.  They 
commence  already  to  taste  the  bitterness  of  their  folly,  and  would  now  un- 
do what  they  had  done  last  November,  had  they  the  power.  See  Boston; 
the  home  of  Burlingame,  Sumner,  Phillips;  Garrison,  and  a  host  Of  other 
notorious  Abolitionists,  a  couple  of  weeks  ago  elected  a  Democrat  mayor, 
by  over  3000  majority.  If  they  are  sincere  in  this  reformation,  it  is  wrong 
that  the  many  should  suffer  for  the  few.  But  I  do  not  mean  by  this  that 
the  South  should  submit  to  Lincoln,  or  be  less  determined  in  maintaining 
her  rights.  I  mean  that  we  should  give  the  northern  Conservatives  one 
more  trial,  by  joining  us  in  compelling  Lincoln  to  resign,  and  then  let  them 
erase  from  the  statute  books  of  all  the  free  States,  those  laws  which  conflict 
with  the  Federal  Constititution  and  our  rights  and  privileges  as  their  fellow 
citizens  of  a  common  country.  We  should  know  that  the  Northern  people 
are  taught  to  view  slavery  as  a  crime  against  man  and  a  sin  against  lie- ven. 
and  whenever  they  manifest  liberal  views,  it  is  our  interest  to  encourage 
them,  as  nature  as  made  us  their  neighbors  and  brethren,  and  so  they  will 
remain,  whether  we  do  or  do  not  secede. 

Were  I  a  U.  S.  Senator  from  this  State,  and  I  came  witliin  scenting  dis- 
tance of  William  IT.  Seward,  even  in  the  Senate  chamber,  I  would  com* 
mence  spitting,  as  I  generally  do  when  I  come  in  contact  with  a  putrilicd 
carcase  of  acarion,  and  if  he  approached  me  too  closely  (three  feet)  I  would, 
spit  upon  him,  and  as  Ward  says,  I  would  spit  all  around  and  about  htm  ;  and 
if  the  Senate,  in  defense  of  its  dignity  and  decorum,  thought  proper  to  ex- 
pel me,  I  would  cheerfully  return  home,  believing  myself  and  State  more 
honored  than  disgraced  by  such  an  expulsion.  1  consider  no  man,  whether 
Senator,  Representative,  or  private  citizen,  worthy  of  my  esteem,  who 
would  treat  Seward  or  any  of  hia  Confederates  with  the  respect  due  to  gen- 
tlemen.    A  bold,  linn  and  honest  political  opponent  has  always  redeeming 


17 

■■■i  elicit  our  admiration-  i  ,]jnir 

rrrectioriary,    blaek-hearte  ,,„,    ]ike   ^  ™g 

►team  the  scale  of  hum;  fi 

e   to  his  conn, 

SWddefierTf 

air  he 
3    -        nipt  and  ) 

.  half  of   th 

mciples,  or  biding  up  the  |» 
btohed  upon  earth,  ,  Sontonpki 

all^enorthemSb  =  i;^ 

c{**ng<  ndefroihthe  official  vote  of  I  enSal 

vl,;,r,i:"-  .  I?lJ::'r,'-  ;       -  -  and  Bell,  combined,  receivTdmore 

ta   the  South,  f]  J 

'!    -    the   wbble   Imon.  they  have*    Sajo^S 
l'"r<!;"-v,„  over  Liwfcra.     Jr  each  Congressional  die trie* 
'    VlI,'"71  r,^e  would  have  bS  nto 

<""-!«"-";™  '  ^enty  votes.     Tl 

i 
7,   4:  Indiana,,*:  Hun,   ■ 
Vn  I?  •  •  V  •  !;'^:"  hTtt|'  ('?n^^»:  Wie^usin  and  Minnesota      , 
;  'M  ""  -,.1'  v""  s  *  '        "  120,  and  we  have  a  total  of  167  to 

'  ■^«*  c>nd1'  ? '  Lincoln^  majority  of  31  in  our  W    Ou 

^ther  the  work  of  the  federal  el,  •  ion  hw 
winch  are  the  most  unjust  and   ^Democratic  contained  m  ourWk^S 
efe;     ft»J™  tablet*  elect  members  of  Coo<  Presidendd 

J  tfnsmanuer,  and  I  think,  it  would  be  as  honest  a  re^estntltion 

''      "•n',!l'V  ,^'"'  '  'to  repeal  these  eS^law^ 

o^ble  «*j  ade  of  our  oresen toMfficuS 

into  which  they  have  plunged  us,)  and  adopt  new  ones  en  now"  he 
,  to  vote  for  electors  as  they  do  for  Congressmen,  and  jllacTSenuhh! 
canism  will  have  received  its  death  blow.  Opposition  to  Southern Sit  - 
bona  has  reached  the  summit  of  its  power  in  the  North,  and  if  he  U  in 
was  wort!,  preserving  in  the  days  of  Calhoun,  Jackson,  Clav  and  Weteter 
certainly  it  m  to-day.     Ifa  ?ltei,h,]lt  ^  magnet-fheXwS 

-ground  which  these  sages  and  patriots  rallied  when  danger  ShwSSSdS 
overthrow,  ca  Is  upon  all  who  prke  civil  and  religious  liberty  abote  priest 
craft  aed  regal  oppression,    to  bury  their  prejudices  and  wro^  for  !   me 
however  pvwus,  and  to  unite  under  the  banner  which  has  wave  1  for  more 
than  eighty  years  over  our  common  destiny,  and  march  to  the  re4  e      The 
pollu ting  bands  of  traitors  are  about  to  seize  it,  and  pervert    tThXteaoh 
logs  horn  the*  ongmal  channel.     Shall  the  South  be  so  puerile  and  £££ 
as  to  quietly  surrender  up  this  sacred  instrument  into1  the  USS^S 
arch  enemies  r     Men  of  the  South,  it  has  kept  vigil,  like  a  Saf-aneeL 
for  two-third  of  a  century  over  your  rights,  and  it  'will  continue  to  ten 
still,  if  you    will   only  preserve  it   in   its  primative  form   a*  Vnnr  f  ♦£ 
framed  it  and  transmitted  it  to  your  keeping      Bv ever vThint  7        i        ^ 
pa*,  dear  in  the  present,  and  ^i^lh^Tfe^1^ 
and  i    need  be,  grapple  in  deadly  conflict  with  the'  mutual  enemas  o     t 
Constitution  and  your  own  rights.     It  is  to  low  and  Lav  to  let    f  L   i 
us  out  of  the  Lnion,  without  our  knowing  «wha  th  ^lo  i    wi  ™  ^ 
Union  is   not  what   I  am  after-the   Federal  Constitution  and   S'n  ^ 
B*ll  are  *  the  apples  -  of  my  eyes;  and  if  there  is  t^be  a  dlvL'n  o^^ 


m 

Union,  let  those  States  wh'eh  violate  its  laws  dforrially,  and  spit  upon  H§ 
Constitution  on  every  occasion,,  withdraw.  The  Vermont  Legislature  have' 
refused  to  repeal  her  obnoxious  and  unconstitutional  enactments,  and,  coa- 
gequently,  she  has  ruled  herself  beyond  the  pale  of  the  Union.  South  Caro- 
lina, having  become  disgusted  with  abolition  insolence,  and  the  tardiness  of 
her  sister  slave  States,  renounced  whatever  allegiance  she  owed  or  formerly 
acknowledged  to  the  Federal  Government,  on  the  20th  of  December,  She 
has  acted  nobly,  though,  in  my  opinion,  too  hasty  ;  while  the  puny,  steriie 
and  puritanical  State  of  Vermont,  has  displayed  a  spirit  for  agitation,  in  words 
only — the  Yankee  way  of  settling  disputes — which  resemble  that  of  a  com- 
mon cur  dog  barking  at  a  full-blooded  mastiff,  I  love  this  Union  so  dearly, 
that  I  would  rejoice  to  witness  the  submersion  of  all  the  New  England 
States  in  the  Atlantic  ocean,  excepting,  of  course,  all  the  good  and  upright 
people  residing  there,  I  am  grieved  to  learn  that  South  Carolina  could  not 
await  the  action  of  the  slave  State  Conventions,  which  are  soon  to  convene. 
But  as  she  has  hoisted  the  Palmetto  Flag,  unaided  and  alone,  she  has  my 
warmest  sympathy  for  her  prosperity.  She  had  the  right  to  secede,  as  all 
the  States  have,  and  if  the  step  was  unwise,  she  will  be  the  first  to  learn 
the  fact.  You  gabbling,  unprincipled  politicians,  behold  the  commencement 
of  your  office-seeking  "  buncumb,"  and  hatred  to  Democracy,  and  tremble  S 

The  people  of  the  South,  in  their  respective  vocations,  have  made  a  dis- 
play of  their  hatred  to  Lincoln,  since  his  election,  never  before  manifested 
toward  any  other  man  whom  the  people  thought  proper  to  elevate  to  the? 
office  of  the  chief  magistracy  of  this  republic.  But  the  reason  is  obvious,  and 
clearly  defined  in  the  foregoing  pages.  The  most  pathetic  and  eloquent  one 
I  have  yet  read  is  the  sermon  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Palmer,  of  the  First  Presby- 
terian Church  of  New  Orleans.  He  pictures  the  magnitude  of  our  wrongs, 
in  poetic,  impressive  and  well  rounded  periods.  One  would  suppose  it  the 
the  production  of  the  great  Scotch  reformer,  John  Enox,  only  it  fails  in  point- 
ing out  the  means  to  meet  or  evade  the  danger  which  surround  us  as  a  na- 
tion— a  desideratum  the  great  clerical  Demosthones  never  failed  to  give,  and 
that,  too,  in  the  most  forcible  manner.  However,  I  regard  it  as  a  fair  declara- 
tion of  his  opinion  of  the  institution  of  slavery,  and  a  candid  exposition  of 
his  political  sentiments  and  sympathies,  generally.  I  cannot  join  in  the 
rabble  cry  against  the  clergy  of  the  South  speaking  on  politics  in  the  pulpit, 
especially  on  the  present  occasion.  Dr.  Palmer's  sermon  was  delivered  on 
Thanksgiving  Day,  and,  in  my  opinion,  he  would  have  overlooked  his  duty 
had  he  abstained  from  referring  to  our  present  precarious  state  of  affairs, 
I  admire  him  for  his  devotion  to  the  South,  and  most  heartily  do  I  approve 
of  most  of  the  sentiments  which  his  learned  discourse  contains.  Certainly 
his  motives  were  the  most  pure  and  patriotic  that  could  actuate  a  man  of 
his  calling,  and  none  but  the  jealous  and  craven-hearted  would  censure  him 
for  the  a  :;t. 

If  the  Union  remain  as  it  now  is,  the  people  of  the  South  must  be  allowed 
the  privilege  of  appointing  men  to  fill  all  the  federal  offices  within  the  juris- 
diction of  their  respective  States,  which  they  can  do  either  by  holding  an 
election,  or  through  their  legislatures.  No  true  Southern  man  will  accept 
office  from  Lincoln;  and  if  he  and  his  party  ever  rule  this  country  as  it  now 
stands,  they  will  have  to  make  more  important  concessions  than  the  one 
aforementioued.  They  will  have  to  cease  retarding  the  business  of  Con- 
gress by  harping  against  slavery  and  vilifying  their  betters.  They  must  re- 
peal all  local  or  State  laws  which  forbid  the  slaveholder  to  travel  through 
the  free  States  with  his  slaves ;  and  they  must  also  acknowledge  that  we 


19 

the  right  to  settle  in  the  territories  until  they  are  admitted  as  State! 
into  the  Union,  with  constitutions  positively  excluding  slavery.  They  must 
give  us  a  guarantee  that  they  will  not  aid  or  harbor  fugitive  slaves,  or  resist 
the  execution  of  those  federal  laws  which  have  been  or  may  be  hereafter 
enacted  for  the  prstection  of  our  rights.  They  shall  not  instigate  insurrec- 
tion among  our  s'aves  ,  or  harbor,  aid  or  sympathise  with  such  cold-blooded 
murderers  as  old  Brown  and  his  raid,  who  may  in  the  future  set  at  defiance 
all  human  and  divine  laws,  and  attempt  !<»  'Miry  out  these  traitors'  hellish 
designs,  which  were  as  rapacious  and  brutal  as  the  St  Domingo  massacre. 
Upon  these  conditions,  and  these  only,  can  the  people  of  the  Soutli honor- 
ably submit  to  the  inaugeration  of  Lincoln  ;  and  if  these  pledges  are  made 
in  good  faith,  and  kept  accordingly,  Abolitionism  will  have  no  more  than  a 
nominal  existence,  even  where  its  influence  is  now  all-potent  and  overwhelm  • 
ing.  An  honorable  and  peaceful  adjustment  of  all  questions  now  under  dis- 
pute would  be  more  preferable  to  the  people  of  both  sections  than  an  irre- 
concilable separation,  or  the  horrors  of  civil  war.  However,  at  the  forth- 
coming election  of  delegates  to  the  State  Convention,  which  is  to  determine 
for  or  against  secession,  I  shall  vote  for  the  secession  candidate,  because  I 
believe  that  those  who  are  generally  opposed  to  it  to  be  tainted  with  Abol- 
itionism, and,  consequently,  would  sacrifice  our  rights  and  honor  to  pre- 
serve the  Union — an  act  which  never  could  win  my  approval 

The  experience  of  thirty  years  of  active  life  has  taught  me  that  rash  and 
hasty  conclusions  must  always  succumb  to  calmness,  moderation  and  firm- | 
ness.  If  the  "  bell-sheep  "  rushes  head-long  over  a  precipice,  should  not 
the  balance  pause  upon  the  brink  to  learn  the  fate  of  their  fellow,  before  they 
hazard  tc  follow?  Most  certainly  they  should.  So  think  I  about  secession. 
If  the  insensed  and  ambitious  politicians  of  the  South  are  not  satisfied  that 
the  people  should  judge  for  themselves  in  this  matter,  let  them  endeavor  to 
help  themselves,  and  they  will  find  out  that  they  have  counted  the  wrong 
host.  Because  our  enemies  taunt  us  with  insults  and  wrongs,  are  we  such 
timid  children  as  to  draw  away  from  them,  aud  beseechingly  cry — "  Now 
let  us  alone,  aud  take  all  you  wish  of  our  treasure,  lands,  &c,  so  you  spaje 
our  niggers?''  I  hope  we  have  not  so  degenerated  as  to  thus  humble  our- 
selves to  them,  either  for  protection  of  property  or  life.  Let  us  convince 
them  once  that  we  do  not  fear  them,  and  they  will  acquiesce  iustanter  to 
anything  we  may  demand.  But  what  can  we  expect  from  Northern  politi- 
cians and  demagogues  when  men  of  our  own  section,  even  natives  of  the 
soil,  unite  in  their  hue-and-cry  against  the  South  and  her  interests.  Every 
county  and  parish  in  the  South  has  its  band  of  wire-pullers  that  makeit  their 
duty  to  deceive  the  people;  and  to  substantiate  this  assertion,  I  need  not 
go  beyond  the  parish  in  which  I  reside,  (Terrebonne).  We  poll  about  1000 
votes  in  this  parish,  and  of  these  there  are  at  least  half  uuder  the  control  of 
twenty-four  persons,  (and  two-thirds  of  them  are  "  roped  in,':)  whose  influ- 
ence over  the  ignorant  and  unsuspecting  is  almost  superhuman.  I  have 
been  a  citizen  for  upwards  of  twenty-five  years  of  this  parish,  and  having 
closely  watched  the  under-dealings  of  these  political  gamsters,  I  must  say 
that  they  have  acted  a  bloody  and  unprincipled  part  in  all  our  elections  for 
years  back.  They  were  first  Whigs,  then  Know  Nothings,  then  Americaus, 
then  Oppositionists,  and  now  they  are  Union  Shriekers,  or,  to  speak  more 
to  the  point,  the  abettors  of  abolitionism.  A  county,  district,  or  State,  beset 
and  ruled  by  such  characters  can  never  prosper.  I  would  suggest  to  all  true 
Southern  men  to  exert  themselves  in  counteracting  the  influence  of  these 
destroyers  of  peace  and  concord.     Gentlemen,  your  own  and  your  country's 


20 

future  happiness  impose  this  duty  upon  you,  and  you  should  act  indepen- 
dent of  all  former  party  ties  and  prejudices.  We  are  brought,  as  it  were,  to 
the  verge  pi  an  nufat  homed  abyss  by  these  petty  political  necromancers, 
and  if  we  would  prevent  them  from  hurling  us  into  its  depths,  we  must  be 
watchful  of  their  manceuvers. 

•  Since  the  appearance  of  my  letter,  in  the  True  Delta  of  Dec.  15th,  in  an- 
swer to  an  inquiry  of  several  gentlemen,  as  to  my  position  regarding  the 
immediate  secession  of  the  Southern  States,  I  learn  that  I  have  been  de- 
nounced by  several  Southern  Rights  Democrats  as  a  renegade,  and  of  having 
renounced  my  former  principles.  I  pronounce  both  of  these  charges  false 
in  every  particular,  and  challenge  my  vilifiers  to  produce  the  evidence  of  my 
aposiaoy,  in  language  either  written  or  spoken  by  me.  I  was  courteously 
asked  tor  my  opinion  on  a  topic  which  was  not  involved  in  the  last  canvass, 
and  I  gave  it,  not  as  a  partisan,  but  as  a  citizen  and  friend  of  the  South, 
It  operated  as  a  damper  upon  the  anticipations  of  those  who  viewed  me 
as  one  who  would  sacrifice  Southern  interest  and  honor  to  save  the  Union. 
They  found  out  that  while  I  was  not  an  absolute  secessionist,  I  was  no  cant- 
ing Union  shriekcr  or  tame  submissionist.  They  asked  for  a  letter,  but  I 
gave  them  a  stone,  or  something  as  indigestable.  I  defined  my  position  as 
being  in  favor  of  anything  that  would  he  productive  of  the  most  good  to  the 
South,  and  believing  it  impolitic  for  the  South  to  secede  now  I  so  expressed 
myself,  ami  in  this  pamphlet  I  reiterate  and  sustain  this  opinion  by  facts 
which  defy  contradiction.  Mr.  Breckinridge,  during  the  late  Presidential 
campaign,  scouted  at  the  accusation  of  him  or  any  of  his  party  being  dis- 
uuionists,  and  Mr.  Yancy  reaffirmed  Mr.  B.'s  denial,  in  this  city,  a  few 
weeks  before  the  election;  and  yet  he  receiveel  the  united  support  of  these 
very  men  who  would,  had  they  the  power,  read  me  out  of  the  party  for  en- 
tertaining the  same  sentiments.  Gentlemen,  your  consistency,  Dem,ocracy7 
and  liberality,  astound  me !  I  have  voted  with  the  Democratic  Party  my 
whole,  life  and  God  forbid  that  my  declining  years  should  chill  the  love  and 
veneration  I  have  alwa)  s  cherished  for  the  land  of  my  birth — the  fair  and 
sunny  South.  I  only  wish  the  people  to  be  consulted  as  to  the  propriety  of 
withdrawing  from  the  Union,  and  by  their  decision  T  will  most  cheerfully 
abide.  I  am  for  the  Union,  if  we  obtain  redress  for  past  grievances,  and 
ample  security  in  the  future ;  but  if  we  are  refused  these  demands,  I  do  not 
want  another  year  to  witness  the  existence  of  the  present  Fedral  Union. 
Let  us  first  exhaust  all  the  power  of  the  Constitution  in  attempting  to  bring 
our  enemies  to  terms,  and  if  it  fails,  let  us  test  the  merits  of  the  sword;  and 
if  fortune  again  decide  against  us,  then  let  a  final  separation  take  place. 

And  now,  I  submit  the  foregoing  remarks  and  ideas  to  the  perusal  of 
men  of  all  parties,  and  if  any  are  personal,  offensive,  anti-Democratic,  or 
at  variance  with  the  interests  of  the  South,  1  lfope  all  such  will  be  viewed 
as  the  work  of  the  head  and  not  the  heart.  I  have  hastily  sketched  at  the 
origin  and  cause  of  the  present  distracted  state  of  the  Union  truthfully,  and 
I  think,  impartially ;  and  I  have  also  suggested  my  mode  of  settlement, 
without  withdrawing  from  the  Union.  I  consider  this  as  the  worst  means 
that  the  South  can  adopt  either  to  redress  her  wrongs  or  secure  her  rights; 
and  I  would  invoke  my  fellow-citizens  of  the  slave  States  to  weigh  well  the 
expediency  of  secession  and  its  consequences,  before  it  is  too  late.  Rest 
assured  that  I  will  be  with  you,  however  contrary  to  my  convictions  and 
advice  you  may  act.  Yours,  in  the  cause  of  the  South, 

ROBERT  RUFFIN  BARROW. 
Residence,  near  Houma,  Terrebonne  Parish,  La.,  Dec.  22d,  1860. 


